Olivia: Become Involved
by kikamew
Summary: Olivia Palamer leaves Canada for a wedding in Michigan. Not used to the idea of Androids, Olivia would prefer to interact with them as little as possible. Yeah, right. Before she even has a chance to dispute it, Liv is wrapped up in a civil rights movement that will surely change the world. So much for staying out of it...
1. Chapter 1

The last time Olivia set foot in the states she had been seven years old, and the Detroit she encountered eighteen years later was a different place altogether. Androids weren't a thing North of the border, and Olivia was okay with that. The whole idea behind them was _unnerving_ to her; a fully functioning pseudo-human designed to obey your every word. She recalled once reading that the fear of dolls was most logically explained as people being unsettled by something that looks human, but ultimately _isn't_. Perhaps that was the reason the entire idea of androids made her nervous?

Though androids were everywhere she looked, she hadn't yet been in a situation where she had to interact with one. It wasn't that she was _avoiding_ it, she had just come in late and checked straight into her less than amazing room. A human ran the front desk, and the entire place was quite _old-fashioned_. Not that she was complaining; the little run-down motel was cheap and familiar. Yeah, so the sheets had a rather strong smell of dust that made her throat feel a bit swollen, and the people staying around her all seemed like they could be up to some shady activities, but all in all the place was in pretty decent shape.

She slept well enough, at least, and for that she was thankful. The first thing on her morning agenda was a visit with her Great Aunt Lillian, and old Aunt Lilly could be a bit overwhelming. Olivia hadn't seen her in person for nearly two decades, but it didn't stop the old broad from calling her multiple times a week to pry into her personal life with an almost unbelievable bluntness only the elderly seemed to be able to achieve. Work, school, diet, love; no part of her life was safe from the prying. Honestly, it came as no surprise to Liv when seconds after being greeted, the first thing out of her aunt's mouth was, "You didn't bring a date for the wedding?"

Of course, that was only the beginning, but Olivia couldn't bring herself to be that annoyed. Everyone was gathered for her cousin Jenny's wedding, as she was the first of their generation to take that big step into adulthood, and it was certainly strange to be able to see all of her family in person. All she had for so long were social media posts and Aunt Lilly's gossip to keep her up to date on them all. Around twenty people were currently bustling around the old house for brunch, and that wasn't even half of them. Yes, the Palamer family was large indeed. The Palamer's also knew how to party, and it was barely eleven by the time Olivia had been handed her first drink.

By five, Olivia was what you would call _hammered_. The amount of people had gradually decreased as the day went on, and she and about seven other Palamer's sat comfortably around the warm living room, sharing old family stories and catching up. The inharmoniously modern TV droned on in the background, some sort of evening news program, but it was mostly ignored. Well, that is until the word 'android' pierced the pleasant conversation. Her father's brother, Uncle Ron, shook his head and frowned, sitting forward and harshly setting his beer aside. It was clear he was preparing for a rant.

"Oh no, Ron. Don't you even start that," Aunt Lilly warned her nephew, wagging a wrinkled and knotted finger at him. "Nobody came here to listen to your bitching!"

Obviously, that was the beginning of a heated debate.

Olivia chose to watch the chaos rather than jump in the middle of it. There was a reason the unspoken rule of ' _Never bring up politics at a family gathering'_ existed. It always turned into something much more personal. Liv sipped her drink to conceal her smirk at certain jabs like, " _Of course you hate change, you miserable old bastard!"_ Her American family seemed to be most invested in the discussion, which made sense seeing as the subject really only affected them.

"They steal our fucking jobs and watch every move we make! You know the government does whatever they want with that information! It isn't right! Those fucking robots should have never been made!" Several voices spoke up at that, but were immediately silenced by the crack of Aunt Lilly's cane against the wooden floor.

"That is enough! Now, we didn't all come together after all this time to argue! I will not have it!"

The room fell silent, a few people looked at the floor sheepishly while others huffed and rolled their eyes. Olivia just raised her brows and took another hearty sip. Her cousin beside her clapped her on the back, causing her to nearly choke to death on the already hard to swallow drink.

"Yeah, see! Livy knows what's up!"

And with that, the conversation was dropped.

* * *

Even with a fire ignited in her belly by the alcohol, Olivia was freezing her ass off. It wasn't cold enough to snow, but a heavy rain had her soaked as she made the journey back to the motel. The plan had never been to stay over at Aunt Lilly's long, but it was nearly ten by the time she said her goodbyes. Androids hadn't been brought up again, thankfully, and the rest of the night had gone on without a problem. It was pleasant, and the only reason she had left was the ever increasing difficulty of keeping her eyes open. That was no longer a problem. As soon as the icy rain hit her, Olivia was wide awake.

Luckily, the walk wasn't so bad. The motel was around a mile away, and if she walked fast she could make it in just over fifteen minutes. Music played in her ears, a tinny quality that could only come from the cheapest of headphones, but it was good enough for her. The upbeat poppy tracks kept her pace up, and made the walk itself go by faster, but not being able to hear the world around her had her a bit on edge. Olivia kept the volume low, and settled on keeping her eyes peeled. Surely, she would be fine. Tucked safely in her bag was a small canister of pepper spray, and knowing she had something by the way of self defense made her feel a little safer.

She had been so close, maybe three minutes away. Her guard had already been lowered and relief flooding when someone crashed into her. _Hard._ Hard enough to send the both of them on their asses and skidding. Her phone hit the ground and skidded away, dragging her still thumping headphones away with it. It felt like a bucket of ice water had been splashed on her, with the sound of the rain hitting her ears and the burning pain from the asphalt scraping up her shoulder. The flimsy cotton jacket was ripped, displaying the bloody skin beneath it.

"What the he-" she started, ready to tear the dumbass apart, but the sight of the person on the ground before her cut Olivia short.

No. Not a person.

An android started back at her with wide, fearful eyes. Had it not been for the LED on it's temple, flashing yellow and red, and the tattered uniform it wore, Olivia would have been certain it was human. Were androids supposed to look that scared? Surely not? Fear was an emotion, and androids weren't supposed to experience those, right? A furious shout came from the distance, and both Olivia and the android snapped their heads in the direction it had come from.

"Please, you have to help me!" The android begged, sounding just as much like the scared young woman it appeared to be.

Wide eyed and open mouthed, Olivia nodded.


	2. Chapter 2

Another enraged shout came from down the street, closer this time, and if that wasn't enough to snap Olivia out of it, the android hurrying to its feet in fear _was._ Every move it made, every terrified whimper that came from its mouth, made it harder for Liv to believe it was anything but human. Though she wasn't too informed on rogue androids, the thought of leaving it to the wrath of the fast approaching man was out of the question.

"Come with me! My room is right over there," Liv pointed, picking herself up off the dirty street with much less grace than the android had before.

Olivia wondered if the android really trusted her. It seemed unlikely, but it was left with few choices. Liv, too, would pick the clumsy young lady over the aggressive man if she were faced with such a choice. Of course, with that line of thinking came another question.

Should _she_ trust _it_?

How many Hollywood movies had portrayed AI as ruthless, cold blooded murderers? If they really didn't feel emotion, only self-preservation, wouldn't that make them the perfect killer? If the seemingly harmless android before her really wanted to, Olivia had no doubt it would be able to take her out. She wasn't much of a badass…

Olivia took one more look at the android, the girl, and decided if that _was_ the case, that's just how she would have to go.

Her hand reached for the android's, who accepted it with little hesitation, and Liv only took note of the difference in skin texture for a second before they took off sprinting. Though the street was dimly lit, there was enough light around them that the two would be easily spotted if they stayed on the sidewalk, so they made a strange, nonverbal, mutual decision to cut through an alley. It came out right at the beginning of the motel's lawn, and even though the mud was sure to splash all over them, they ran straight through it.

Hastily, Liv swiped her card in the door. Her hands were so shaky she fucked it up at least three times before the little light flashed green and the lock clicked open. Ushering the android in, Liv took one last look to make sure they hadn't been followed before closing the door and locking it behind her. She turned then, and looked at the android who, in turn, had its eyes locked straight on her. It looked frazzled for sure, but it wasn't trembling like Olivia was. A blue liquid leaked from its nose, pooling around its mouth, and some of its dark hair hung out of the bun she assumed was usually held neat and tight. The LED on its forehead was no longer flashing red, but a cautionary yellow instead. Well, to be honest Olivia really didn't know what the colors meant, but red usually meant bad, right? Weren't they usually blue?

God, she was out of her element here.

"Are you alright?" Liv asked, shrugging off her sopping jacket and only wincing a little when the material clung to her bleeding shoulder.

The android said nothing, just watched her every movement with careful eyes.

"Uh… Was that pissed dude your owner? I've gotta be real with you here, I don't really know much about this android thing, but I've never known of one to just-"

"They were going to kill me," the android interjected, voice low, but genuine. "I didn't want to die. I- I've never been scared before… I just… I-"

"It's okay!" Olivia blurted when the android began to grow upset once more. "I'm not blaming you, I just want to understand." Olivia had been approaching the android while she spoke, hoping to comfort it somehow, but stopped when it jerked back. "Why don't we start over, yeah? I'm Olivia. It's nice to meet you…"

After a beat of silence, the android took what appeared to be a deep breath and replied, "Erin. They called me Erin."

"Okay, Erin," she confirmed. A few seconds of silence passed before she spoke again. "I'm gonna get out of these wet clothes. I'm sure I have something you can wear, too. Would you like that?"

Erin nodded, and Olivia offered her a smile before turning and heading for her suitcase, still disheveled from when she had rifled through it that morning. A seafoam sweater sat at the top, and Olivia figured that would be okay. Erin was a good few inches taller, but she was also leaner than Olivia, so she figured it would balance out okay. A worn pair of black leggings were grabbed to accompany the sweater, as well as some clothes for herself, and with that Liv stood and layed the outfit on the bed.

"There you go! I hope they fit okay. I did the best I could."

Olivia offered Erin one more awkward smile before making her way to the bathroom. The door was nearly shut when Erin's soft voice trailed behind her.

"Thank you."

* * *

It was pretty much a general consensus that the best thinking was always done in the shower, but the (minimal) hot water and familiar movements did little to clear Olivia's head. The alcohol still polluting her blood didn't help the situation, even if the last hour had sobered her up considerably. Giving in to the usual relaxing atmosphere was _difficult_ when all Liv could think about was the runaway android hanging out on the other side of the bathroom door. Bloodshot eyes studied themselves in the mirror as the overwhelmed tourist worked her brain in circles, and it wasn't until a particularly rough tug of the brush catching her curls made her wince that she snapped out of it.

The first sight she had been greeted with upon exiting the foggy bathroom was Erin holding Liv's pocket knife to her temple, point digging beneath the ring of her LED. Olivia's surprised choke made her presence known, and Erin quickly popped off the little ring before turning to face her. The flesh had pulled back, exposing her true white, metallic skin for only a second before fading back to normal. Olivia's eyes followed the quickly fading circle of blue light as it hit the floor.

"I have to look as human as possible. If the police find me, they will reset me. Maybe even _destroy_ me," Erin explained, voice much more even and calm than it had been before. It seemed she had calmed herself down while Olivia had been cleaning herself up. Even if she was stabbing at her own face.

Liv nodded, not sure what to say. She swallowed thickly before taking a seat on the bed, pulling her knees up to lean her elbows on them. The rain outside still poured, thunder occasionally rumbling in the distance, and she listened to it while she waited for her brain to offer something _enlightening_ to say. It gave her nothing, but that didn't matter. Erin had already begun speaking instead.

"Sarah was never a hard person to work for, though it was clear she saw me as nothing more than a slave. In the beginning that was okay; that is what I was programmed to be, right? She bought me for a reason, and that reason was _not_ to purchase a friend," Erin began, voice a bit sad, tinged with bitterness.

"...Is that why you left? You were tired of being ordered around?"

Olivia's quiet question seemed to release Erin from whatever memories were keeping her in her head, and her unbelievably lifelike blue eyes met Liv's. A small smile tugged at the corner of the android's lips, and she shook her head in response.

"I had some doubts, but nothing more than that, until…" A pause. "Sarah's boyfriend, James, was often hanging around. He was… quick to anger. Small things would set him off, and he would get _violent._ Not with Sarah, but with me. Sarah never stopped him. I suppose she was just happy it was I and not her that took the brunt of his rage."

Olivia listened, a sympathetic grimace taking over her expression.

"When he struck me tonight, something new overcame me. For once, instead of standing idle and letting him attack me, I shoved him off of me… _That_ really set him off," Erin's eyes focused somewhere over Olivia's shoulder, and her fingers came up to gingerly touch the almost fully faded blue blood beneath her nose. "I fought him back, even when Sarah screamed at me to stop. We went around and around, him trying to kill me and me just trying to _survive_. Finally, I managed to escape, and all I could do was run…"

"...And that's where I come in, eh?" Liv interjected, earning another nod from Erin.

Geez, that was rough. Could Olivia really blame the poor thing? Nobody deserved to live under constant abuse. Had Olivia been in the situation, she wasn't sure she would have been merciful enough to leave the bastard breathing. Okay, had Olivia been in the situation she would have surely _died_ , but regardless...

It was fucked up.

"Erin, I'm really sorry, dude. Please, feel free to stay with me for as long as you need to, but… do you have any sort of plan? Do you have any place where you can go?"

"I… do not know of any such place as of right now, but I am certain there is one. I know I am not the only one to break free, I just have to find my people." Her voice was strong, determined, and Olivia had little doubt she would achieve her goal. "I can not thank you enough for your kindness, Olivia. It is an act I will never forget. But I cannot stay here with you long. It will not be long before the humans come looking for me, and I guarantee it would not be hard for them to pinpoint me here. For your sake, and mine, I must move on once morning comes."

"Oh, yeah...That makes sense."

And it _did_ make sense, so why did Olivia feel disappointed? Had she already grown attached to the runaway android? Had Erin's story moved her that much? Liv couldn't help but root for the girl… Huh. At some point, Olivia had stopped seeing Erin as an 'It', and started seeing her as a 'She'. It looked like Olivia was no longer a neutral party when it came to androids.

Didn't take much, did it?

* * *

 _Knock Knock Knock_

The sound of fist hitting door roused Olivia from her sleep, and she briefly considered getting up to answer it before burying her face back in the pillow.

 _KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK_

Alright, what in the hell? Who in their right mind would possibly be banging so urgently on her temporary door? She swore, if it was Aunt Lilly-

"Detroit police! Open the door!"

Oh. Oh, **fuck**. A cold sweat rose on the back of her neck, and she swung her legs off the side of the bed, standing so fast her head spun.

"Just a second!" she called, seconds before mentally scolding herself because _how fucking dumb was that?!_ Why didn't she just stay quiet and pretend she wasn't there?

A quick look around the room made it apparent that Erin was gone, and that bit of information brought relief, along with a twinge of sadness. Man, she wished she could have at least said goodbye…

But at least she wasn't harboring a fugitive anymore.

A piece of paper on the chipped coffee table caught her eye, and Olivia snatched it up quickly, eyes scanning handwriting so perfect it may as well have been typed.

 _Olivia,_

 _I cannot thank you enough for the kindness you have shown me. I must find my own way now, but I know our paths will cross again. Please, stay safe._

 _-Erin_

She only took a second to allow her heart to be warmed before pocketing the note and shaking it off. Crossing the room at record speed, Liv swung the door open, squinting through the bright sunlight to make out two figures on the other side. One was an older, scruffy looking man, and the other was a well dressed… android? The human man wasn't wearing any sort of uniform, but his badge was clearly displayed by the hem of his coat. Swallowing, Olivia spoke.

"Uh, can I… like, help you?"

 _Smooth._

"Olivia Palamer," the android stated, voice friendly but to the point. She nodded in conformation, even though it didn't seem like a question, and he nodded back once before speaking again. "My name is Connor, and this is Lieutenant Anderson. We are here investigating a missing deviant. It attacked its owner and escaped late last night. We have good reason to suspect you may have seen something."

Her eyes moved from Connor to the Lieutenant, and he looked back at her with what almost seemed like disinterest, but she could have been reading him wrong.

"Um, no? Why would you think that?" Olivia said simply, gaze fixing once more on Connor and trying harder than she ever had in her life to keep her voice even and face neutral. Honestly, she thought she did a good job considering the only thing going through her head was _fuck, fuck, I am so fucked._

The android raised an eyebrow and studied her for a second before reaching in his pocket and pulling out a particularly damning piece of evidence indeed.

Her cell phone.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Ahhhh! Thank you all so much for the follows and reviews! I haven't written anything like this in a long long long time, so I hope you all stick with me while I figure it all out! Suggestions are always welcome, and I would love to read what you guys think!**


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